The author

The author behind Food and Garden is me, Karin Brinks Melbye. I am Danish and 41 years old. I am very passionate about growing my own vegetables but even more passionate about home-made food. With this website I want to show you that you don’t need to be a professional or have tons of experience to have fun in the garden and in the kitchen. You just need to adjust your expectations to your skills, have some patience and, finally, have faith that you can achieve much more than you think.

Me in the garden with one of our chickens.

Learning how to make pasta in Italy.

I live in the countryside in the northern part of Denmark with my husband Morten, our dog, four chickens and a rooster. We have been living in the countryside for more than ten years and we love the big skies. We have a plot of about 2200 square metres and about a third is used for the kitchen garden, a greenhouse, fruit trees, plants and a hen house.

Learning the hard way

I am self-taught in both kitchen and garden and the term “trial and error“ is quite familiar to me. If I don’t succeed the first time, I will try again. This is all very easy when it comes to creating and testing a recipe but a lot harder when it comes to the garden. If I make a mistake with a vegetable, due to the wrong location or too much fertilizer, the chances are that I will have to try again next year. A bit frustrating but on the other hand I gain a lot of experience I would hate to be without.

I love taking pictures and all pictures on this website is taken by me through the years. It is so fascinating how a simple vegetable or flower can turn into almost a piece of art with the right light or a different angle. With that said, I am not a professional. I just do it for the fun of it.

Different coloured carrots.

A single poppy in the garden.

I work full time as a graphic designer, doing online and offline marketing, hence my experience with websites. I love the endless possibilities the internet gives me and the feedback I get from readers and followers. The feedback makes me want to improve even more. Come to think about it, my current job has many similarities to the way I work in the kitchen and in the garden. Growing tasty fruits and vegetables and cooking mouth-watering food is amazing, but for me, it’s just as important that the garden looks beautiful and the food stunning. Content is as important as appearance, and the other way round.

A garden, a path to happiness?

Having a kitchen garden makes me happy every day. Even if I need to spend the day weeding. Don’t ever doubt the fact that all the work you put into the garden, you will get back tenfold in great experiences and beautiful produce. I wish everyone could have a small garden, or just a few pots with soil in which to grow tomatoes, herbs or potatoes. You feel so proud and satisfied when you succeed in growing something beautiful and even more proud if you turn the produce into a delicious home-made meal.

I hope Food and Garden will inspire you to try new recipes, grow your own vegetables and just have fun! I do!

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Contact Info

Good ideas, praise and constructive criticism are more than welcome. Also, should there be any problems with a recipe, or the website in generel, send me an email.
Please allow me a few days to response.